The John M. Kohn family photos

Yesterday, I received two family photos from my 3rd cousin-once-removed Barbara Schuh. Her father Robert Schuh received them from his godmother Marie Irsch.

The family is the John M. Kohn family, my great grandfather. He was born 1839 in Wasserliesch, Germany; his wife is Susanna Reinert, who was born 1848 in Igel, Germany. These two towns are across from each other on the Mosel River, a few miles upstream from Trier. The couple likely knew each other in Germany before they emigrated—he in 1865 and she in 1867, and they lived 30 miles from each other in Minnesota and Wisconsin from 1867-1872. John M. followed Susanna when she moved with her mother and siblings to Kansas. They married at Waconda, Kansas in 1874.

This photo was taken about September 1881 to June 1882. Susanna likely was pregnant with her 5th child (the 4th child to live through infancy). The children in the front row are Mike J. (born 1879), Peter (born 1877), and Katie (born 1881) . The family had moved to La Crosse, Wisconsin in late 1880--the couple and two sons were in the June 1880 census of Kansas, their daughter Katie was born January 1881 in La Crosse.

This photo was taken about 1887-1889. The children (left to right: Katie (born 1881), Mike J. (born 1879). Ben (seated, born 1884), Peter (born 1877), and Annie (born 1882)) have recently experienced the death of their youngest brother Joseph (born March 1886, died November 1886) and mother (died August 1887). John M. and family moved to a farm near Cawker City, Kansas in 1887 or 1888.









 

Only a guess, but this photo comes from about 1890, when Katie was about nine years old. Annie was eight in that year, so the other girl seems a bit small to be Annie.

This photo must come from about 1904. The family moved to a livestock farm in Bloom township, Osborne county, Kansas after they resettled from La Crosse. The youngest boy, Ben (left) was born 1884 and appears to be ten to twelve years old here. The two sisters Katie and Annie would be about twelve to sixteen. The older boy, either Peter or Mike J., would be in his late teens. The photographer is likely the other older boy. The father John M. (1839-1919) lived on the farm until his death at age 80.



Other researchers also document some of the family.

• Peter Kohn (1875-1941) married Elizabeth Ottley (1880-1947) and had a family of 7 children (a sixth child did not survive infancy).
• Mike J. Kohn (1879-1965) married Louise Ohnsat (1875-1959) and had a family of 8 children (two others did not survive infancy).
• Katie Kohn (1881-1955) married Phillip Gasper (1877-1964) and had a family of 8 children (a 9th child did not survive infancy).
• Annie Kohn (1882-1956) married Frank Streit (1881-1951) and had a family of 10 (an 11th did not survive to childhood).
• Ben Kohn (1884-1955) married Barbara Streit (1887-1974) and had a family of 9.

• The two deceased infants were John Nicholas (1875-1875) and Joseph (1886-1886).